Meeting Pattern

Meet Tuesdays and Thursdays synchronously {3:00 - 5:00 p.m.}

Description

Participants in this course will read and discuss pedagogical theory and practices relevant to the transition from high school writing to college writing. The objective is to establish a common vocabulary and best practices that might better harmonize concepts for teaching writing in high school and college. Ultimately, the goal is to facilitate a smoother transition to college for student writers.

 An essential premise of this course is to resist and overcome categories of what “we” do versus what “they” do. Participants will be expected to listen and respond, not privilege and impose their own approaches. Participants will be expected to approach this reading circle with a reflective mindset that seeks to adapt and evolve in response to others’ ideas and practices.

 Specifically, this course will offer:

●      A community of educators interested in a deep exploration of the tensions between high school and college literacy education.

●      Time to read and reflect on current best practices reducing the dissonance between writing in high school and college.

●      An opportunity to facilitate group discussion by designing writing prompts, asking questions, and offering suggestions for how to evolve our classroom                practices in response to one another.

●      Support for designing writing assignments, units, and daily lessons that will facilitate a smoother transition for student writers.

●      A writing journal to document one’s thoughts and plans for evolving in response to each other’s ideas and practices.

Syllabus, Objectives, and Outcomes

Objectives:

• Read and contribute actively to discussions of course readings.
• Facilitate a group meeting that promotes active writing and sharing of ideas.

Texts/Readings (provided by the Writing Project): 

• Reaching All Writers: A Pedagogical Guide for Evolving College Writing Classrooms by Joanne Baird Giordano, Holly Hassel, Jennifer Heinert, and Cassandra Phillips
• What is “College-level” Writing by Patrick Sullivan and Howard Tinberg
• Teaching Writing as Journey, Not Destination: Essays Exploring What “Teaching Writing” Means by P. L. Thomas
• Writing Rhetorically: Fostering Responsive Thinkers and Communicators by Jennifer Fletcher